Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Make a Butterfly Chrysalis

Are
you feeling the winter blues and looking for some ways to brighten up and maybe
even warm up this spring? We have come
up with a way to get you in the spring mood! Are you a Daisy working on your Between Earth and Sky journey? This butterfly chrysalis is
perfect for you and your leaders to do together! You can find this project and others at
www.spoonful.com.

Butterfly Chrysalis is from Classic Play by Molly de AguiarIn September and October of every year, a special
group of monarch butterflies perform one of the most amazing feats in the
insect world: they migrate 2,500 miles to southern California and Mexico to
survive the winter and reproduce.What’s even more amazing is that
monarchs who are born in the spring and summer typically live for two to six weeks;
yet migrating monarchs must live six to eight months to complete their journey
to ensure future generations of monarchs. This is the equivalent of a human
living 1,000 years. As children, we are
entranced by the life cycle of the monarch: from egg to caterpillar to cocoon
(chrysalis) to butterfly. The transformation is, I think we can all agree,
truly magical. From the Science issue ofClassic Play, here
is a craft that tries to capture a little bit of that magical surprise,
inspired by the tiny pinatas craft by Not Martha.

Supplies:
Green tissue paper cut into 2″ or 3″ squares
Small balloon
Sparkle Mod Podge
Sponge brush
A small length of string or twine
A small butterfly from the floral section of the craft store – you can also
make one yourself out of felt or paper
Other fun surprises to put inside the chrysalis

1. Blow up the balloon
and tie it off. With your sponge brush and Mod Podge, start pasting squares of
green tissue paper onto the balloon. When you have finished one layer, set it
aside (you can place it on top of a small cup, like an espresso cup) and let it
dry completely. You might need to rotate the balloon occasionally to allow it
to dry evenly.

2. Continue pasting
layers until you have pasted on three full layers, letting each one dry
thoroughly before adding the next. After you have covered the balloon in three
layers, let the whole thing dry overnight.

3. To remove the
balloon from your cocoon, grasp it by the knot, and just underneath, take a pin
or needle and make a small hole. The idea is to let the air out slowly and not
to just pop it. As the air is letting out, the balloon will pull away from the
edges. Once the balloon is removed and depending on what you want to put in the
chrysalis, you might need to use some scissors to cut the opening a little
wider.

4. I’ll leave it up
to you to decide what fun surprises you want to fill the chrysalis with –
butterflies, orange and black confetti, stickers – this is the fun part. I used
a little monarch butterfly that I found in the floral supplies section at the
craft store (you could also make butterflies from orange and black felt or from
construction paper), and a piece of paper with amazing butterfly facts, which
you can download hereand print if you like.

5. Once you’ve
filled the chrysalis, take a piece of string or twine and tie it in a loop.
Drop it into the chrysalis halfway, and then paste one square of tissue paper
with the Sparkle Mod Podge over the opening to create a string for pulling open
the chrysalis. When it is dry, the chrysalis is ready to be opened and the
surprises ready to be revealed . . .